Decoder having a lense portion and a light filtering portion and method of making same

ABSTRACT

A method is disclosed for creating a decoder for revealing information hidden in a printed material and information hidden in a color image wherein the decoder comprises a substrate having a lens portion for revealing the information hidden in the printed material and a light filtering portion for revealing the information hidden in the color image.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35USC§119(e) of U.S. provisional patent application 60/585,095, filed Jul. 6, 2004 and entitled “Monocoque lenticular plastic card and method of making the same”, the specification of which is hereby incorporated by reference. This application further claims priority of Canadian patent application No. 2,472,996, filed Jul. 5, 2004 and entitled “Monocoque lenticular plastic card and method of making the same”, the specification of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to the field of lenticular decoders and color filtering decoders.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Lenticular cards or decoders may be useful for various purposes including gaming and as promotional tools.

In fact, various types of promotional tools are used for marketing and reaching potential/actual customers. However those tools are often too expensive to develop and too tedious to use.

For instance, some tools, in the shape of a credit card enable a user to reveal information hidden in a printed material using a color filter. This therefore enables the user to look for sales or bargains in a booklet for instance. Unfortunately, these tools are limited for decoding information hidden in a printed material using a color filter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a decoder for revealing information hidden in a printed material and information hidden in a color image, the decoder comprising a substrate having a lens portion for revealing the information hidden in the printed material and the substrate further having a light filtering portion for revealing the information hidden in the color image.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for making a decoder comprising a lens portion and a light filtering portion, the method comprising providing a translucent substrate material, impressing a lense portion on a corresponding part of the translucent substrate material and impressing a light filtering portion on another corresponding part of the translucent substrate material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in combination with the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 a is a diagram showing a decoder having a lense portion and a light filtering portion;

FIG. 1 b is a diagram showing a side elevation view of the decoder having a lense portion and a light filtering portion;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing how the decoder is manufactured according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing how the decoder is manufactured according to an embodiment wherein an extrusion cylinder is used; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing how the decoder is manufactured according to an embodiment wherein a stamp die is used.

It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Now referring to FIG. 1 a, there is shown an embodiment of a decoder 8.

In one embodiment, the decoder 8 is a wallet-size card (i.e. CR 80 format). It will be appreciated that the decoder 8 may be of various sizes and shapes depending on the particular application. For instance the decoder may have a handheld format which may be convenient for mail delivery or for any other direct marketing purposes. Therefore, the decoder may have a format ranging from a CR 80 format to a letter format (8.5″×11″). It will be further appreciated that the decoder 8 may have a thickness comprised between 7 mil (0.007 inch) and 40 mil (0.04 inch). It will be appreciated that in one embodiment, the decoder 8 is a monocoque decoder.

The decoder 8 comprises a lense portion 10 and a light filtering portion 12.

In an embodiment, the lense portion 10 is an upper horizontal lense portion while the light filtering portion 12 is a lower horizontal light filtering portion.

The lense portion 10 is capable of revealing information hidden (encoded) in a printed material using well-known lenticular interlacing techniques while the light filtering portion 12 is capable of revealing information hidden in a color image through appropriate filtering, using well-known color filtering techniques. Preferably, the lense portion 10 is a transparent lenticular array screen window used to decode indicia in a printed substrate. In fact, the light filtering portion 12 comprises a transparent plastic screen window used to decode indicia encoded with color filtering techniques on a printed substrate and/or TV screen or monitor.

Referring to FIG. 1 b, there is shown a left side elevation view of the decoder 8. As explained previously, the decoder 8 comprises the lense portion 10 and the light filtering portion 12.

Now referring to FIG. 2, there is shown how the decoder 8 is manufactured according to an embodiment.

According to step 20, a translucent substrate material is provided.

In an embodiment, the translucent substrate material is Polyethylene Terepthalate Glycol (PETG). Alternatively, the translucent substrate material may be one of APET and plastic acrylic, PET, PP, PS or any other type of plastic used to create lenticular lens array sheets or rools. The skilled addressee should appreciate that other suitable materials may be used.

According to step 22, a lense portion 10 is impressed on a corresponding part of the translucent part of the substrate material. The lense portion 10 is impressed using impressing means.

According to step 24, a light filtering portion 12 of the decoder 8 is impressed on another corresponding part of the translucent material. The light filtering portion 12 is created using the impressing means.

While it has been disclosed that the lense portion 10 is impressed on a corresponding part of the substrate material first. It should be understood by the skilled addressee that the light filtering portion 12 may be impressed first. Alternatively, the lense portion 10 and the light filtering portion 12 may be concurrently impressed on the substrate material. While this has not been disclosed in FIG. 2, it should be appreciated that the substrate material may be then cut into a plurality of decoders 8 in the case where the substrate material is provided in sheets.

Now referring to FIG. 3, there is shown another embodiment for creating the decoder 8.

According to step 30, a translucent substrate material is provided. In one embodiment, the translucent substrate material is provided in sheets.

In an embodiment, the translucent substrate material is Polyethylene Terepthalate Glycol (PETG). Alternatively, the translucent substrate material may be one of APET and plastic acrylic, PET, PP, PS or any other type of plastic used to create lenticular lens array sheets or rolls. The skilled addressee should appreciate that other suitable materials may be used.

According to step 32, an extrusion cylinder is provided. The extrusion cylinder comprises a first cylindrical portion for impressing a lense portion 10 on a corresponding part of the translucent substrate material and further comprises a second cylindrical portion for impressing the light filtering portion 12 on another corresponding part of the translucent substrate material.

According to step 34, the extrusion cylinder is rotated with respect to the translucent substrate material. The sheets of translucent substrate material are therefore printed using a known lenticular printing method to form a lenticular special effect or to apply color on the light filtering portion 12. It will be appreciated that the translucent substrate material may then be cut to provide a plurality of decoders 8.

In one embodiment, the cylinder rotates around a fixed axis and the substrate is fed between the rotating cylinder and a roller assembly. In another embodiment, the substrate is fixed on a surface and the cylinder rolls across the substrate.

It will be appreciated that heating of the substrate may also be involved in the extrusion process.

It will be appreciated that in the case wherein the substrate is provided in sheets, the sheets may be cut in a format of 22″×28″ or any format suitable for impressing the light filtering portion 12. The cut sheets may then be cut again to suit a desired format such as the CR 80 format.

Now referring to FIG. 4, there is shown another embodiment for manufacturing the decoder 8.

According to step 40, a translucent substrate material is provided. In one embodiment, the translucent substrate material is provided in sheets.

In an embodiment, the translucent substrate material is Polyethylene Terepthalate Glycol (PETG). Alternatively, the translucent substrate material may be one of APET and plastic acrylic, PET, PP, PS or any other type of plastic used to create lenticular lens array sheets or rools. The skilled addressee should appreciate that other suitable materials may be used.

According to step 42, a stamp die is provided. It will be appreciated that an array of dices may also provided.

According to step 44, the translucent substrate is stamped using the stamp die. It will be appreciated that the lense portion 10 is created on a corresponding part of the translucent substrate material using the stamping. It will further be appreciated that the light filtering portion 12 may then be created. In one embodiment, the light filtering portion 12 is created by printing a transparent color on the another corresponding part of the translucent substrate material.

It will be appreciated that the translucent substrate may be cut after the stamping. Alternatively, the translucent substrate may be cut during the stamping. In one embodiment, the light filtering portion 12 is created by printing a transparent color on the another corresponding part of the translucent substrate material. Cutting means may also be provided for cutting a sheet of translucent substrate material into a plurality of decoders 8.

While it has been disclosed that a stamping may be performed, it should be appreciated that a process based on molding may be used to create the decoder 8. In such case, the molding is used to create at least the lense portion 10. The light filtering portion 12 may then be also created in order to create the decoder 8.

The embodiments of the invention described above are intended to be exemplary only. The scope of the invention is therefore intended to be limited solely by the scope of the appended claims. 

1. A decoder for revealing information hidden in a printed material and information hidden in a color image, said decoder comprising: a substrate having a lens portion for revealing said information hidden in said printed material; and said substrate further having a light filtering portion for revealing said information hidden in said color image.
 2. The decoder as claimed in claim 1, wherein said substrate is selected from a group comprising Polyethylene Terepthalate Glycol (PETG), APET, plastic acrylic, PET, PP and PS.
 3. The decoder as claimed in claim 1, wherein said decoder comprises a card.
 4. The decoder as claimed in claim 3, wherein said card has a format ranging from a CR80 format to a letter format.
 5. The decoder as claimed in claim 1, wherein said decoder has a thickness comprised between 7 mil (0.007 inch) and 40 mil (0.04 inch).
 6. The decoder as claimed in claim 1, wherein said decoder is a monocoque decoder.
 7. The decoder as claimed in claim 1, wherein said information hidden in said printed material has been encoded using a lenticular interlacing encoding technique.
 8. The decoder as claimed in claim 1, wherein said lens portion comprises transparent lenticular array screen window.
 9. A method for making a decoder comprising a lens portion and a light filtering portion, said method comprising: providing a translucent substrate material; impressing a lense portion on a corresponding part of the translucent substrate material; and impressing a light filtering portion on another corresponding part of the translucent substrate material to provide said decoder.
 10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said lense portion is impressed using an extrusion cylinder comprising a first cylindrical portion and further wherein said light filtering portion is impressed using a second cylindrical portion of said extrusion cylinder.
 11. The method a claimed in claim 10, wherein a sheet of said translucent substrate material is provided, further comprising cutting said sheet into a plurality of decoders using cutting means.
 12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said cutting means are for cutting said sheet into a plurality of cards having a format ranging from a CR 80 format to a letter format.
 13. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said impressing of said lense portion is performed using a stamp die.
 14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said impressing of said light filtering portion comprises printing a transparent color on said another corresponding part of the translucent substrate material.
 15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein a sheet of said translucent substrate material is provided, further comprising cutting said sheet into a plurality of decoders using cutting means.
 16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said cutting means are for cutting said sheet into a plurality of cards having a format ranging from a CR 80 format to a letter format.
 17. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said provided translucent substrate material has a thickness comprised between 7 mil and 40 mil (0,007 to 0,040 inch).
 18. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said substrate is selected from a group comprising Polyethylene Terepthalate Glycol (PETG), APET, plastic acrylic, PET, PP and PS.
 19. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said lense portion is impressed using a molding process.
 20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein said impressing of said light filtering portion comprises printing a transparent color on said another corresponding part of the translucent substrate material.
 21. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein a sheet of said translucent substrate material is provided, further comprising cutting said sheet into a plurality of decoders using cutting means.
 22. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein said cutting means are for cutting said sheet into a plurality of cards having a format ranging from a CR 80 format to a letter format. 